The Role of Economics in Society

If global development is to be governed by spiritual principles, the role it assigns to the generation and application of knowledge must be reevaluated.

Materialism, whether cogently defined or hidden in implicit assumptions, has little choice but to place economic activity at the center of human existence.

In one way or another, all other processes of social life end up subordinate to economic activity, deriving the greater part of their significance from the contributions they make to material comfort and wealth.

Specifically, knowledge, which is too often confused with information, acquires much of its value from its enormous potential to drive economic progress.

An alternative claim is that a worldview that is cognizant of the spiritual dimensions of consciousness would regard the generation and application of knowledge as the very central process of social existence.

Clearly, the creation of wealth and its just distribution would continue to be indispensable. But economic activity would not be seen as an end in itself any longer.

Beyond attention to the needs of survival, economics would concern itself with the multiplication of means through which humanity would pursue goals of a higher purpose.